I’m on a group tour in Turkey run by a British organization. The owner of the organization (which I’m guessing is rather large based on the number of tours they run in various places) is our tour guide and he does a great job. Because of the number of tours the company runs, he does not lead all the tours so hires others as guides - which is probably the case on most of the tours. There are also several others who are assisting in various ways with the tour and another tour guide who is with us each day as well. The company sent out guidelines for tipping because their guests have apparently asked about this in the past. My question is this: if the owner of the company is your primary tour guide, do you tip him? I have been told in the past that you don’t tip the owner of a business but perhaps the world is a different place than it was when I grew up and I want to do the right thing. I suppose one way of looking at this would be if you went on a Rick Steves tour and Rick himself was your tour guide, would you tip him? I’m going to ask some of the others on the tour what they plan to do, but I respect the experience of everyone here so wanted to get your input.
Posted by
Freedonia
16937 posts
suppose one way of looking at this would be if you went on a Rick Steves tour and Rick himself was your tour guide, would you tip him?
Actually, not a good example because there is no tipping on any RS tour regardless of who is leading it.
The standard practice is not to tip the owner of the business. However, this is changing depending on where you are.
Posted by
1214 posts
This conundrum brings into focus the exact question of why anyone tips anyone else anyway. Is there less service from an owner? Is he not a person who deserves extra money to stay afloat? Is he not deserving of the respect of a tip as you would another person? Is not tipping an owner a way to not tip that one time and save money?
It seems as if we should feel an owner does not really need the extra money. So we do not tip, bringing up the tips as financial support system for those in tipping industries. Then again, if you don’t tip the owner but feel obliged to tip that owners other guides, would you not say that he is not paying adequate wages to those guides?
Do we tip for gratitude of a job well done, or do we tip due to low wages in those industries?
What works for you?